BILL NUMBER: AB 590	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Feuer

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add Article 9.6 (commencing with Section 6159.5) to
Chapter 4 of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code,
relating to the practice of law.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 590, as introduced, Feuer. Legal aid.
   Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and
regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public
corporation. Existing law provides that it is the duty of an attorney
to, among other things, never reject, for any consideration personal
to himself or herself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed.
Existing law provides that a lawyer may fulfill his or her ethical
commitment to provide pro bono services, in part, by providing
financial support to organizations providing free legal services to
persons of limited means.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to expand the
availability of legal counsel in critical civil matters through
locally controlled pilot programs designed to test and evaluate new
methods for the fair and cost-efficient resolution of legal disputes,
and the comprehensive enforcement of vital legal rights, with
respect to basic human needs. The bill would state the additional
intent of the Legislature to encourage the legal profession to make
further efforts to meet its professional responsibilities and other
obligations by providing pro bono legal services and financial
support of nonprofit legal organizations that provide free legal
services to underserved communities.
   This bill would prohibit a person or organization that is not a
specified type of legal aid organization, as defined, from using the
term "legal aid," or any confusingly similar name in any firm name,
trade name, fictitious business name, or other designation, or on any
advertisement, letterhead, business card, or sign. The bill
additionally would prohibit any person from charging a fee for any
legal form or other document created by a legal aid organization, a
court, or other public agency that is available to the public without
charge, or from charging a fee to assist in the provision of
self-help services that are provided without charge by a court or
legal aid organization. The bill would subject a person or
organization that violates these prohibitions to specified civil
liability.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to expand the
availability of legal counsel in critical civil matters through
locally controlled pilot programs designed to test and evaluate new
methods for the fair and cost-efficient resolution of legal disputes,
and the comprehensive enforcement of vital legal rights, with
respect to basic human needs. These pilot programs shall be
implemented without additional allocations from or expenditures by
the state General Fund. The pilot programs should be designed to
guard against the involuntary waiver of those rights or their
disposition by default, particularly by indigent parties, including
the elderly and people with disabilities. These pilot programs should
be designed to address the substantial inequities in timely and
effective access to justice that often give rise to an undue risk of
erroneous decision because of the nature and complexity of the law
and the proceeding or disparities between the parties in education,
sophistication, language proficiency, and legal representation or
access to self-help or alternative dispute resolution services. The
Legislature further recognizes that there are significant social and
governmental costs of depriving such parties of those legal rights,
and that these costs may be avoided by providing the assistance of
counsel where parties have a reasonable possibility of achieving a
favorable outcome.
  SEC. 2.  In light of the large and ongoing justice gap between the
legal needs of low-income Californians and the legal resources
available to meet those needs, it is the intent of the Legislature to
encourage the legal profession to make further efforts meet its
professional responsibilities and other obligations by providing pro
bono legal services and financial support of nonprofit legal
organizations that provide free legal services to underserved
communities.
  SEC. 3.  Article 9.6 (commencing with Section 6159.5) is added to
Chapter 4 of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code, to
read:

      Article 9.6.  Legal Aid Organizations


   6159.5.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Legal aid programs provide a valuable service to the public by
providing free legal services to the poor.
   (b) Private, for-profit organizations that have no lawyers have
been using the name "legal aid" in order to obtain business from
people who believe they are obtaining services from a nonprofit legal
aid organization.
   (c) Public opinion research has shown that the term "legal aid" is
commonly understood by the public to mean free legal assistance for
the poor.
   (d) Members of the public seeking free legal assistance are often
referred by telephone and other directory assistance information
providers to for-profit organizations that charge a fee for their
services, and there are a large number of listings in many telephone
directories for "legal aid" that are not nonprofit but are actually
for-profit organizations.
   (e) The Los Angeles Superior Court has held that there is a common
law trademark on the name "legal aid," which means legal services
for the poor provided by a nonprofit organization.
   (f) The public will be benefited if for-profit organizations are
prohibited from using the term "legal aid," in order to avoid
confusion.
   6159.51.  For purposes of this article, "legal aid organization"
means a nonprofit organization that provides civil legal services for
the poor without charge.
   6159.52.  (a) It is unlawful for any person or organization to use
the term "legal aid," "legal aide," or any confusingly similar name
in any firm name, trade name, fictitious business name, or any other
designation, or on any advertisement, letterhead, business card, or
sign, unless the person or organization is a legal aid organization
subject to fair use principles for nominative, descriptive, or
noncommercial use.
   (b) It is unlawful for any person to sell or charge a fee for any
legal form or other document created by a legal aid organization or
by a court or other public agency of the state regarding or for use
in a court action or proceeding if the form or other document is
available to the public without charge from the legal aid
organization, court, or other public agency.
   (c) It is unlawful for any person for a fee to assist or offer to
assist in the provision of self-help services that are provided
without charge by a court or legal aid organization.
   6159.53.  (a) Any consumer injured by a violation of Section
6159.52 may file a complaint and seek injunctive relief, restitution,
and damages in the superior court of any county in which the
defendant maintains an office, advertises, or is listed in a
telephone directory.
   (b) A person who violates Section 6159.52 shall be subject to an
injunction against further violation of Section 6159.52 by any legal
aid organization that maintains an office in any county in which the
defendant maintains an office, advertises, or is listed in a
telephone directory. In an action under this subdivision, it is not
necessary to allege or prove actual damage to the plaintiff, and
irreparable harm and interim harm to the plaintiff shall be presumed.

   (c) Reasonable attorney's fees shall be awarded to the prevailing
plaintiff in any action under this section.